COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio Supreme Court on Thursday threw out the latest attempt of death row inmate Anthony Apanovitch to get his murder conviction overturned.

The high court ruled that under Ohio law a Cuyahoga County trial court wasn’t allowed to consider Apanovitch’s post-conviction petition. Apanovitch has been on death row since 1985. He was convicted of rape, burglary and murder of Mary Ann Flynn of Cleveland.

Flynn was a 33-year-old nurse in the summer of 1984 when she hired him to paint her Archwood Drive home. He raped, beat and strangled her, prosecutors said. Flynn had previously told friends he had propositioned her and she was afraid of him.

The Supreme Court’s decision reverses the lower court’s ruling to vacate Apanovitch’s rape charges and order a new trial for the remaining charges. Apanovitch had petitioned the court, post-conviction, on the premise of DNA testing completed in 2000 that was not available at the time of his trial.

The majority opinion, written by Justice Patrick Fischer, noted that Apanovitch has unsuccessfully tried to overturn his conviction several times, including through multiple post-conviction petitions.

The “right to file a post-conviction petition is a statutory right, not a constitutional right,” which means that any right to post-conviction relief must come from Ohio laws. The opinion said that Apanovitch’s latest petition did not meet the criteria under Ohio law for a state court to consider it.

Justice Terrence O’Donnell concurred in part and dissented in part. He disagreed with the majority on the court’s decision to remand the case to the trail court for further proceedings. O’Donnell believes the matter has come to an end. Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor joined O’Donnell’s decision.

Justice Sharon Kennedy separately concurred in part and dissented in part without a written opinion.